San Francisco Chronicle Movie Critics Mick LaSalle has a column Ask Mick LaSalle. I read a fantastic reply he gave to a reader regarding introducing Star Wars to his child. I felt that I really need to publicize his reply:
Bravo, Mick!Dear Jedi Master Mick LaSalle: As someone who grew up with the first "Star Wars" trilogy, I'm not sure how to best introduce a child to the series. Would you start with Episode I or Episode IV? Any thoughts?
David Swope, Sausalito
Dear Jedi Master David Swope: My honest thought is to skip "Star Wars" altogether and avoid introducing a child to a lifetime of bad movies and a pattern of bad movie taste. Instead, get a child interested in Shakespeare. Show the child masterpieces of cinema. Get the child used to black and white.
If the child is old enough to read, get the child used to subtitles. Boys and girls have their whole lives to develop lousy pop culture taste, just through contact with other boys and girls. While their minds are still open and they still think you know a thing or two (as opposed to when they're teenagers and beyond the reach of reason), give them at least a grounding in the good stuff. It might work and it might not, but that grounding will be something for them to build on - and will be an amazing advantage over kids brought up on a steady diet of garbage.
However, if you really want to introduce a child to "Star Wars," start with "The Phantom Menace." It's so absolutely awful that the child might rebel against the whole project 20 minutes into the first movie.
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